Rebecca Masson to open Fluff Bake Bar storefront

Pastry chef/owner Rebecca Masson raised $53,000 in a Kickstarter campaign to fund the opening of her bakery, Fluff Bake Bar.

Pastry chef/owner Rebecca Masson raised $53,000 in a Kickstarter campaign to fund the opening of her bakery, Fluff Bake Bar.

Photo: Gary Fountain, Freelance

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(For the Chronicle/Gary Fountain, April 12, 2014)
Fluff Bake Bar pastry girl/owner Rebecca Masson in her current baking location. This is the entire space where last year she baked approximately 45,000 sweets on this eight-foot table. Rebecca recently complete a Kickstarter fund to get her own bakery space, and is working on getting a larger space and opening a retail bakery and dessert bar. less

(For the Chronicle/Gary Fountain, April 12, 2014)
Fluff Bake Bar pastry girl/owner Rebecca Masson in her current baking location. This is the entire space where last year she baked approximately 45,000 sweets ... more

Photo: Gary Fountain, Freelance

Image 3 of 3

Fluff Bake Bar pastry chef-owner Rebecca Masson finishes Fluffernutters in her current baking location. She will open Fluff Bake Bar in the fall.

Fluff Bake Bar pastry chef-owner Rebecca Masson finishes Fluffernutters in her current baking location. She will open Fluff Bake Bar in the fall.

Photo: Gary Fountain, Freelance

Rebecca Masson to open Fluff Bake Bar storefront

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Noted local pastry chef Rebecca Masson, who appeared on Top Chef's "Just Desserts" competition, will open her long-awaited Fluff Bake Bar bakery this fall at 304 Gray in Midtown. It's a street that will soon see a couple of other high-profile openings in the form of Kata Robata's new izakaya and a second Oporto tapas bar.

Masson's target date is late fall, after three to four months of build-out. In thoroughly modern fashion, she secured her funding with a $53,000 Kickstarter campaign last year.

Until now, she has peddled her wares at Revival Market in the Heights and at semi-regular pop-up events at Southside Espresso. An accomplished networker, she also has spearheaded many collaborative charity dinners for the Lucky Dog rescue organization.

Fluff Bake Bar continues the recent Houston trend of ambitious bakery openings - traditionally a weak category in the city's dining scene - that includes such newcomers as Common Bond and EaDo's Tout Suite, an offshoot of the Sweet macaron emporium in City Centre.

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An important aspect of that trend is toward sophisticated cafe service as part of the business model. So Fluff Bake Bar will offer not just teas and Katz coffees but also wine and beer curated by Antonio Gianola, one of the city's most skillful sommeliers, who has plied his trade at Da Marco and Catalan before taking on the management of Houston Wine Merchant. Cheese and charcuterie will add a savory facet to the menu.

Diners will be able to select pastries from the bakery cases or order more complex plated desserts a la carte. Masson is promising such creations as Chocolate Stout Syllabub made with crème fraîche, spiced caramel and a finishing touch of Ritz cracker crunch; or risotto fritters with gingered blueberries and Texas honey semifreddo. Meyer lemon icebox pie, a chocolate beet cake with cream cheese ice cream and a maple syrup crème brûlée with lardons and walnuts are also on the program.

As befits Masson's talent for synergy, she is promising weekend dessert take-overs by celebrity pastry chefs from around the country, among them Austin's Philip Speer of the Uchi group, Amanda Rockman of Paul Kahan's Nico Osteria in Chicago and Cincinnati's Megan Ketover, a fellow contestant on "Top Chef: Just Desserts."

In the same vein, Masson intends to use her new space for educational purposes, too, offering baking and pairing classes by local and national pastry chefs, brewers and winemakers.